


Take a Rest Please

by TheRoomWhereItHappened347



Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Affection, Comforting Kozume Kenma, Exam Stress, Exhaustion, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, MEANING THE NEKOMA AND KARASUNO MATCH, No Plot/Plotless, SPOILERS FOR CONTENT IN SEASON 5, Spoilers, Stressed Kuroo Tetsurou, Whumptober 2020, but at the end, but it’s a late submission, but slightly over exaggerated, its just Kuroo stressing abt exams, self-projection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRoomWhereItHappened347/pseuds/TheRoomWhereItHappened347
Summary: Kuroo has final exams and hadn’t done much to keep himself healthy when studying, but it wasn’t like he was going to burden his amazing boyfriend with taking care of Kuroo when he could obviously do it himself...it’s just exams were more important then getting up for something like a snack.Alternatively: Kuroo doesn’t take care of himself and Kenma doesn’t like it.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954654
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Take a Rest Please

**Author's Note:**

> 1) I planned this at 12:30 AM, wrote it from 11 AM to 1:20 PM, edited from 5-7 PM (including football breaks lol) and posted by 8. I’m very proud of myself for this achievement. Thank you for listening *bows*. 
> 
> 2) It’s funny that I can write a nearly 2.6k fic but have 2 fully planned out IwaOi fics to write yet I haven’t even started those.  
> Expect them at some point but not soon.
> 
> 3) Let’s be honest, we all needed some fluff. It’s not strictly fluff, but it’s fluff and I’ll take it. My friend says I think of too much angst and she’s right.
> 
> 4) This is very much a self-projection about my time during mocks except the studying is much more than what I did lol. I know people who would probably do this as well so...(also Kuroo didn’t stay up really late all nights, just on the night before he had that specific exam). 
> 
> 5) Enjoy the fic and leave a kudos and comment!

Exams were creeping towards the 3rd years and Kuroo studied for them religiously. 

Volleyball continued without the 3rd years -it’s not like he had much to do anyway, Karasuno had beaten them in nationals- and he’d already selected Taketora as Nekoma’s new captain. 

The first 3 days went smoothly, with Kuroo managing his revision time fairly well, but then his English Language exam was nearing until it was that morning and Kuroo felt the stress rapidly building up on the train ride to school.

It always happened with the subjects he struggled on, and English Language was one of the subjects that threw him off and made him feel as if he was a failure.  
Sometimes it was because he messed up the word order and it threw off the whole sentence or spelt something wrong that changed the meaning of the paragraph he’d written so far or-

“Tetsu?” Kuroo’s attention snapped to Kenma instead of staring blankly at his notes. 

“What’s up kitten?” He replied, internally sighing when he realised he’d been staring at the same sentence for who knows how long.

“You’ve been staring at the same page for 5 minutes.” Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “You spaced out. Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?” 

Kuroo laughed, albeit was a bit shaky.  
“I’ll be fine Kenma, don’t worry your pretty head,” Kuroo gave him a small smile before going over his notes, this time keeping himself focused so Kenma wouldn’t ask any more questions about his health. 

Truthfully, Kuroo hadn’t done much to keep himself healthy when studying for these exams, but it wasn’t like he was going to burden his amazing boyfriend with taking care of Kuroo when he could obviously do it himself...it’s just exams were more important then getting up for something like a snack.

Every few minutes he flipped to the next page of his revision notes, revising the structure of a certain sentence or memorising a few more words until their stop was called and Kuroo forced himself to switch his attention to leaving the train and walking to school safely.  
____________________________________________

If Kuroo wanted to be honest with himself -he didn’t- he felt like crap. 

His shoulder and back muscles ached from not moving in hours, his head had started pounding 15 minutes ago and his stomach growled every 10 minutes or so. 

Glancing at his bedside clock, the numbers informed him it was 11:42 and there was no way he would be able to get any food without either setting off the alarm or making such a racket that his father would wake up. The poor man needed rest as well, having come back from a business trip in Kyoto an hour ago. 

It wasn’t as if his grandparents didn’t care for him; his grandmother had offered him some food around 7 but he’d said later because he’d eaten something -was it crisps or an onigiri?- earlier. 

He regretted saying no to the food.

His muscles protested painfully as he stood up and stretched, walking to the bathroom and relieving himself before sitting back down in the chair for what would be another hour and a half of Japanese Literature revision. 

His computer screen glared at him throughout his final hour of revision and his eyes fluttered shut if he lost concentration for more than 10 seconds, his body begging him to rest. 

Kuroo knew he needed to at least take a break when the screen blurred and the words swam on the screen even though he was wearing his glasses.

His phone buzzed at 1:30, the screen lighting up with a text from Kenma and distracting him.  
He allowed himself to stupidly grin at the picture of Kenma smiling -probably because he’d beaten a hard level of a game- before he read the text message.

Kitten~ <3  
Why r u still up? 

Did Kuroo really have to answer? Well he didn’t have to...but it would mean ignoring Kenma and his boyfriend would give him grief for that at some point and Kuroo didn’t want to feel guilty for leaving him on read.

Me  
I should say the same for u

Kenma  
I don’t hv an exam tomorrow, unlike u  
Go 2 sleep Kuroo

Me  
Half an hour more 

Kenma  
15 minutes 

Me  
Half an hour 

Kenma  
15 minutes or I tell ur grandmother tomorrow

Me  
...  
That’s playing dirty Kenmaaa

Kenma  
It’s taking care of u

Kuroo sighed as he texted Kenma ‘see u later’, throwing his phone on the bed after. He didn’t mean to worry Kenma, but he had to revise for this exam. He needed to pass if he wanted to get into a top university in Tokyo because it was ridiculously competitive to get a place there. 

He had to get top grades. He didn’t want to disappoint everyone with abysmal grades and a poor job-  
He shook his head and opened another text to analyse, using it to keep the rest of his thoughts away. The last thing he needed was to work himself into an anxiety attack. 

He fell asleep at his desk at 2:45.  
____________________________________________ 

“Tetsurō, wake up!” He narrowly avoided banging his head against his computer when his dad startled him awake from the other side of his bedroom door. “You have school in half an hour!”

“I-I’m awake!” He called out, pressing his lips together as he realised he’d slept in his clothes from yesterday with his glasses smushed against his face. 

Taking off his glasses, he grimaced at how the insides were smudged from where his eyes pressed against the lenses and held back hisses when he stood up, every muscle protesting at moving.

He stiffly grabbed his towel and showered quickly, using the cold water to shock his system into functioning as he rushed through his morning routine. His fractured 4 hours of sleep -curse himself for not going to bed, he needed his pillows even if he kept his bed hair- left him fumbling with his shirt buttons and his tie, having to redo it twice.

Snatching his revision notes from his desk before rushing downstairs, he greeted his family and packed his bento box into his bag, debating if he had the time to eat some toast or a cereal bar.

“So what exam do you have today?” His grandfather asked from the kitchen table. 

“Japanese Literature,” Kuroo replied as he packed his bento box.

“Oho, your father hated that one.”

“Really?” Kuroo laughed slightly as he debated if he had the time to eat toast or not.

“Yes, he always preferred Maths over English, probably still does.”

“Tetsurō, you’ll be late if you don’t leave now,” his grandmother reminded him. Ah, it looked as if it would be a cereal bar today. 

“O-oh, right.” He picked a cereal bar from one of the boxes in the cupboard before putting on his shoes and leaving. “Bye!” 

Jogging up to where he normally met Kenma, he noticed his boyfriend was already there. 

“Morning,” he said before they started walking to the train station in a comfortable silence, not making conversation until they were on the train.

“It’s not like you to be late,” Kenma murmured as he battled a Pokemon trainer with a Ninetails.

“I overslept a bit.”

“What time did you go to sleep?” 

“Uh...I actually don’t know,” he laughed sheepishly as he nudged Kenma, prompting the setter to avoid the person that he could’ve walked into as they found some empty seats. “You texted me when...?”

“I don’t remember, check the chat history.”

“Okay~” Kuroo went to get his phone from his pocket only to find it empty, his other pockets the same. Maybe it was in his bag? 

Careful not to make too much noise, Kuroo ruffled around his bag to not find it there, only his notes and his bento box. 

“Kuroo?”

“I can’t find my phone,” he whispered when he saw Kenma’s questioning look. His heart skipped a beat when he realised it could’ve been stolen.

“When did you last have it?” 

“Um...at home.” He threw his phone on the bed earlier. “Crap, it’s on my bed,” he groaned quietly. Amazing, exactly how he needed to start the day. First he woke up late and on minimal hours of sleep again, next he left his phone at home.

He distracted himself for the rest of the train ride by reading through his revision notes from yesterday and eating his cereal bar.  
____________________________________________

His final exam arrived and it was his on best subject: chemistry. 

So why, on his final night of revision, was he studying so late for something he could pass in his sleep? Anxiety. 

Kuroo really wanted -no, needed- to pass this because if he didn’t, he would be an incredible failure. How could he fail the subject he was most passionate about?

If he passed Chemistry with a low grade, he would’ve failed his other exams and he couldn’t fail those because it would mean he couldn’t do anything right, much like volleyball since they couldn’t even beat Karasuno and the blame was on him for that because he led Nekoma and it meant he was a terrible captain- 

Wait.

He needed to either get a grip and revise or get some sleep. 

Nationals were over and he couldn’t do anything about Nekoma now and this was a Chemistry exam so why- why was his mind going into overdrive now? 

Kuroo let out a shaky breath and slapped his cheeks, the sting on his cheeks focusing him on the situation at hand. ‘Check through what you know and revise whatever is left.’ 

Crude oil and hydrocarbons? He’d revised that enough that he felt confident in it.  
The atmosphere’s history? That as the easiest thing to learn even if it was boring, he could do it in his sleep.  
Checking through the syllabus, all he needed to recap was electrolysis and he was finished...even if it was 1:22 AM. 

He slept at 2 that night -the earliest he’d slept considering he normally slept at 2:30- and struggled out of bed at 6AM. 

He felt -and probably looked judging by Kenma’s expression- exhausted, his hands shaking as he packed his notes. 

He separated his day into chunks of time during the train ride to school to make the prospect of going through it seem more bearable: train ride with Kenma, revise with Kai and Yaku until the exam, complete the exam, go home. 

“Ne, Kenma, help me revise for Chemistry?” He asked quietly. 

“How?”

“Flash cards.”

“Okay.”

Kuroo knew Kenma was aware he could pass Chemistry easily but was grateful the setter agreed, wanting the extra security of knowing he would pass. 

“3 renewable energy sources?” Kenma asked, his PSP turned off and attention on the flash cards.

“Solar, geothermal and tidal.”  
____________________________________________

He’d finished his exams. His fate was in the hands of exam markers and he couldn’t care any less right now. He would deal with that when it came to it, but he was currently daydreaming of having a hot shower and sleep. 

“Thank God exams are over,” he sighed as he stretched, thankful they were only 5 minutes away from their homes. “You wanna come to mine and cuddle?” He asked Kenma quietly. 

“...I don’t mind,” Kenma replied.

“Great! I’ll see if I can find some extra blankets and stuff and we can make a pillow fort-” Kuroo paused when his stomach let out an unusually large growl. “...I’ll get some food as well.” 

Kenma laughed softly as they reached his house.  
“Do you want me to bring Pokémon or Mario?” He asked. 

“Hmm...bring Pokémon.” 

“Okay.” Kenma tugged at Kuroo’s jumper, prompting Kuroo to lean down so Kenma could give him a kiss on the cheek. “Well done for getting through exams.”  
Kuroo blushed at the PDA.

“I-uh- text me when you’re leaving,” he stuttered out.  
Normally he was fine when it came to talking about affection and romantic gestures, but when he was actually given some, especially from Kenma, he would become extremely flustered. The setter once said he found it endearing. 

“See you later Kuroo.”  
____________________________________________

Kuroo was comfortable.

He was content to be in a pillow fort, lying next to his boyfriend, watching him play video games through half-closed eyes.

“Hey Tetsu?” Kenma asked as he turned around to face Kuroo, his PSP now lying on a pillow.

“Yeah?” He mumbled, opening his eyes to meet Kenma’s honey ones.

“I know you weren’t taking care of yourself during exams. You don’t normally eat cereal bars on the train and I could see you were awake when I was playing games.”  
Kuroo couldn’t find it in himself to deny it, so he shrugged instead. “You know you shouldn’t do that.” 

“I didn’t wanna bother you,” he replied, confused when Kenma’s face scrunched up.

“I’m your boyfriend, I want to care for you. You normally do it for me and I should be doing it for you, but you hide your problems and don’t give me a chance to help you.”  
Wow, it was rare for Kenma to say this much. Normally his affection was in small actions like offering a slice of apple pie or letting Kuroo ‘level up’ after a bad match. “The other day when I asked you how much sleep you’d had, you deflected the answer. So I’ll ask again, how much sleep did you get?” 

“Which day are you asking about?” 

“I mean over exams.” 

Ah. Kuroo was in a tight spot. If he deflected the question then Kenma might get angry or even worse, disappointed, but if he answered it would be bad anyway. 

Kuroo sighed. “About 4 or 5 hours a night.”

“That’s not enough for someone taking important exams,” Kenma said as he raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but it got the job done. I’m done with exams anyway, why does it matter now?” Kuroo retorted.

“Because you should’ve looked after yourself. So why didn’t you?” Kuroo opened his mouth only to shut it because he wasn’t completely sure either. 

“I...I don’t know. I think I started caring more about passing than my health. It might’ve been ‘cause of the stress.” 

Both of them were quiet, Kuroo thinking over how much he ate and slept and Kenma...well he couldn’t guess what Kenma was thinking for the first time in a while. 

“If...” Kuroo’s eyes snapped up to meet Kenma’s. “If you feel like the stress is too much again, come to me.” 

“But-”

“But nothing.” Kenma shut him down before he could start. “I want to help you Tetsurō, so let me, please.” 

His eyes were pleading and Kuroo could never find it in himself to say no to the love of his life. He would do anything for Kenma and he would argue with anyone who said otherwise.

“Okay.” 

“Good. Now do you wanna cuddle and probably sleep? The bags under your eyes have been noticeable for days.”  
Kuroo had been amazed when Kenma hadn’t said anything about them when they appeared, so it made sense for it to be brought up now. Well...the lack of sleep and everything else. 

“Yeah.”

Kenma soothed Kuroo’s worries and stress with kisses and cuddles, an arm wrapped around Kuroo’s torso and the other on top of the blanket they were under as Kuroo placed his head gently on top of Kenma’s.

“Love you kitten. Thanks for everything,” Kuroo murmured.

“...I love you too, you big cat. Now go to sleep.”


End file.
